Clara Harris testifies lawyer betrayed her, failed in duty

She's serving time for running over her husband in 2002

Published 6:30 am, Saturday, February 23, 2008

After enduring the five most painful years of her life, Clara Harris testified Friday that she felt completely betrayed by the one person who was supposed to help her — her defense attorney.

Harris, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for running over her husband in July 2002, told jurors that defense attorney George Parnham had repeatedly told her that he loved her and thought of her as a daughter.

Jurors in state District Judge Sharolyn Wood's court are hearing testimony in a lawsuit filed by Harris, accusing Parnham of promoting himself more than concentrating on her defense.

Harris hired Parnham days after she was arrested for running over her orthodontist husband, David, with her Mercedes-Benz.

Moments before Clara Harris had confronted her husband of 10 years and his mistress, Gail Bridges, in the hotel lobby.

'You didn't care'

Dean Blumrosen
, Harris' attorney, pointed out that the day jurors in Harris' criminal trial were deciding her punishment on Feb. 14, 2003, Parnham was walking the hallways on his cell phone to his attorneys.

The call was for the attorneys to draw up a $300,000 promissory note for Harris to sign.

"During the last five years of my life, I have endured the most painful thing anyone can feel in life: the loss of my husband, the separation from my sons, the pain I caused Lindsey (her stepdaughter), my in-laws, I let them all down," Harris told jurors, choking back tears.

"What else can come that would hurt me? I thought I was immune.

"When I found out that the person I trusted and counted on 100 percent was not caring about me," she said before her voice tailed off.

"Instead of being out there talking to witnesses and try to do something for me, you didn't care," Harris said as she pointed to Parnham.

Parnham, who was sitting a few feet away, kept his head down.

Under questioning from Charles "Chip" Babcock, who is representing Parnham, Harris acknowledged that she signed a $300,000 promissory note agreeing to pay Parnham.

The amount was in addition to the $235,000 Harris already had paid Parnham.

Harris, 50, said she didn't review the document because she had been told by Mary Parnham, George Parnham's wife and paralegal, during her trial that the document would "help preserve her estate."

Harris signed the document on Feb. 18, 2003, while she was under psychiatric watch in the Harris County Jail.

Babcock at length reviewed with Harris a list of expenses she discussed with George and Mary Parnham while Harris was incarcerated.

Media strategy?

Earlier in the trial, Babcock showed jurors a timeline from when Parnham was hired by Harris in July 2002, a few days after she was arrested.

The timeline showed Parnham had a series of meetings with Harris and others helping with the case from the time he was hired leading up to the trial.

In earlier testimony, Harris said she was not aware that a documentary by ABC's PrimeTime was scheduled to air after her trial ended.

If she had known, she would not have agreed to it, she said.

Interviews with NBC and CBS conducted before her trial also were embargoed until after her criminal trial.

Harris said she was told the show would help improve her public perception before her trial.

"They were telling me the perception was terrible," she said.

Parnham has testified the broadcast was part of his media strategy, especially with the release of a private detective's video showing Harris running over her husband in the parking lot of the Nassau Bay Hilton Hotel.

Harris, however, said the videotape was not released until her trial was under way. State District Judge Carol Davies, who presided over the criminal trial, sealed the videotape evidence until the trial ended.

Harris has alleged that Parnham breached his fiduciary duty and violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices and Consumers Protection Act.

She is seeking attorney's fees and unspecified compensation for mental anguish and pain, according to her lawsuit.

Parnham has filed a countersuit asking for repayment of a $90,000 loan he said he and his wife took out to pay for experts and consultants involved in the Harris trial.

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